alexf

Didn't want to jinx it before the game so wasn't hyping our chances, but knew if we turned up we are the far superior team at the moment. But almost had to pinch myself in that first half at times. It was like men against boys. The dominance in midfield of Tonali and Bruno. When was the last time anyone can remember us going to old Trafford and looking that superior in a league match. It was a shame we didn't really put them to the sword earlier on, as it should have been 4 or 5. They did improve once Mainoo came on, not sure if it was a combo of having more bodies in the middle, or if we backed off and were conserving energy. What I do know is if we gift the chances we did tonight to Spurs, we might get undone. But they are in a bad way Man U. If they want to pick up results they are going to have to change system until they sign more players. Did enjoy the Neville crying throughout though. He and all their fans don't have a clue about suffering. I hope it continues long into the foreseeable.

Best form of defence is attack really. They are leaky at the back and they will play attacking themselves. Just control the midfield like tonight and protect Kelly if he's the one at CB. That Schar yellow was so soft though. Didn't think it was a yellow at all but also silly from Schar getting involved on the halfway line at 2 nil in hindsight. Only think that makes me nervous. Otherwise I'd be backing us for another win. Plus the players looked a bit leggy second half.

Next goal is massive. That Tonali chance would have killed them off. Can't let them back into this, they are awful. You know they will throw on Garnacho and Rashford second half. We got let them get any momentum.

I mean he didn't always do all that was asked of him. He's a striker that looked allergic to scoring goals at times. But I'm not slagging him off, I'm one of the few that look at his time here more positively, because he played the position better than anything else we had at the time and allowed the rest of the team to function well and have such a strong finish to that season.

Not gonna be the same without the original commentary.

Just don't let them counter attack and give the crowd anything to get excited about. Look to hit them quick with an early goal if we can again and then just pick our moments. We have shown that going forward recently we can cause teams massive problems. No need to overcommit away from home. Let the game come to us and use any home enthusiasm against them. If we turn up here we win. They may be shit but history has taught us we can't half arse it, everyone needs to be on it still.

Btw. That second goal from us is fucking great. If you watch it from start to finish. The way we keep the ball, move and rotate players around to work the space for Bruno on the edge, who find Murphy with a brilliant pass, then perfect timed runs by Murphy and Isak. That was superb to see.

Man City had better not come raiding us in January just cus they are having a shit season. We finally got a good settled midfield now.

I thought it was a nailed on red. Just as Schar twists his leg comes up almost as if he's going to leave abit on Duran but he doesn't connect. But in the microsecond, Duran retaliates and plants both feet in the direction of Schar but tried to do it in away that looks accidental. It wasn't. He knew exactly what he was doing and it's a red card.

Can people stop putting the jinx on please . Yes, we should win on current form but this is Newcastle away to Man U at Old Trafford. I've seen this before.

We probably win that recent Brentford away game if he hadn't needed a rest. Guy is our heartbeat right now and just constantly putting out fires all over the pitch. Such an important role, as the Rodri for Man City absence shows. I kept praying all second half that he didn't get a yellow card and a suspension because I think he's number one on the team sheet currently.

I think that red card is a clear easy discussion. If you don't like Newcastle they you will convince yourself it was an accident. If you are an unbiased spectator then it's a red all day. My spurs supporting brother in law came in and saw it and said red all day.

I mean he was pretty deadly at Dortmund, which is why there was such a clamour from all the biggest clubs to get him. So yeah I think he's be alright. He does what Pep asks of him. He's shown in the past he can do more in the build up. But he's definitely levels below Isak in that department. I stand by, if you put Isak in that old functioning version of Man City then he is probably getting close to Haaland numbers, whilst also linking the play better than him. Haaland however is obviously a more powerful, physical specimen and probably the better 1v1 finisher from what we've seen so far of both. However, whether he could stay fit enough long term is still a question mark about him.

What's our record with him? Always struck me as a shite ref and was embarrassingly shown to be when he has reffed in international tournaments/champions league games. Graham Scott also looks like someone who would struggle with any kind of technology let alone VAR.

What if we missed out on Europe only by a point or something because we didn't strengthen and that then led to losing Isak or others in the summer? As the expression goes "sometimes you have to speculate to accumulate" yeah it could leave us at risk of a sale or points deduction if it goes tits up, or we could see this season as a massive opportunity to capitalise on how tight the Ieague is and try and snatch 5th. Think the first team has been a little stale for awhile. I think even just one fresh face at first team or close to level would be a nice boost going into the remainder of the season. I would hope the club are looking to move on dead weight and free up funds for atleast that personally.

We have some irreplaceable first team members, but I would rank Schar high up there aswell. As much as he has looked vulnerable defensively this year, he is still our go to player to play out with. His passing for a CB is outstanding, and doesn't get anywhere near as much credit as he deserves from external media. As great and reliable as Burn has been this year, his style of defender is a dime a dozen and fairly easy to find. We already have his upgrade in waiting when Botman returns. But Schar is going to be really hard to replace as a goalscoring and progressive player.

Yeah was refering to Schar and Tonali especially now he's sitting the deepest of the midfielders. But yeah surprised Bruno only had 3 as feels like he gets booked most games, but he proved last year he can avoid of necessary so wasn't worried about him. Schar on the other hand has picked up some really silly and soft cards this year. It's also a lottery what sort of ref were gonna get. The one we had against Brentford in the cup was giving them out like candy for everyone's first tackle.

Is Murphy playing well for 3 games really enough for us to presume he can keep this up until the end of the season though? I was under the impression we were pretty desperate for right winger. So surprised people would be willing to loan back if we managed to sign that kid. Think would be naive to assume Murphy will be able to keep up this form just based on his last few games. Not to mention the need for rotation also even if he did.

Eeesh, two tough games to try and get through then for our two highest tackle % players I imagine.

When does the accumulated cards thing reset? Schar has been one booking away for awhile and I imagine Bruno is close also?

Villa have had it easier than we did last season imo. They were in a better PSR place than us regardless of needing to sell Douglas Luiz because there squad was stronger than ours pre-takeover. So they were building from a better foundation, thanks to the Grealish sale. Not only did we have the group of death in the champions league and in the old format, we also had the fixtures from hell if you remember last year, especially every single cup draw. So with a small squad of quality anyways, it was difficult for us to rotate and play weaker sides in hardly any of those early season games, and then ofcourse came the injuries. Then there was the Tonali situation which was the bulk of our summer budget, plus Barnes and Botman getting serious injuries both in the same game. We had a hell of a year last year and I still think it's impressive we came away from it 7th and had Europe snatched away by a hungover Man city not turning up against Man U. I think under most managers that would have been a 14th/15th right it off completely type season. Villa got to have a trial run in the conference last year, blooding alot of their squad, then this season they were able to strengthen their squad over the summer better than we did and have had a far nicer champions League pathway with the new format. They also haven't had the horrific fixtures and cup draws we got and therefore have been able to avoid anything close to the injury nightmare we encountered. Having said all that, win on boxing day and we go above them and can try and push them til the end of the season where hopefully the lack of Europe for our squad will start to take effect and give us some advantage. Unless we go far in the fa cup and get to final of league ofcourse, which could prove a distraction.

Dunno if some are just piling on for fun or if they really mean it? But you can't be judging their manager on the first few games. Clearly he has a system he prefers and has worked well for him elsewhere. He's obviously seeing what players fit that and which he will need to replace. Granted EtH was supposed to be the same but he seemed to quickly abandon his philosophies and Man U had no style or direction under his whole tenure. If the new guy abandons his also, then they are in massive trouble. But like I mentioned earlier, took Howe a little while to get things going here and he had far less to work with than Amorim has, plus they can still buy their way out of trouble, so I don't expect them to be this awful for much of longer. Although surely revenues will eventually come down one day eventually for them if onfield doesn't improve? You know they are going to be way more up for a game against us than Bournemouth, no disrespect to Bournemouth but Man U arrogance seems to carry through generations, even though this current team should have actually been underdogs to Bournemouth on this season's showing so far.

Wonder if the club might regret not securing that new deal earlier in the season when his form/fitness was abit patchy. If he continues now at the rate he's going till the end of the season, his agents will be able to demand silly numbers to tie him down longer.

Really hard to call this. Last few times at home we have smashed them, so you would assume they will learn their lesson and approach it differently, but Emery might be stubborn and let's hope that high line plays into our favour again. Both teams look to be hitting some form, both have strikers on it, strong midfields with good balance. We really need to protect Burn and Schar from getting isolated against Rogers and Watkins/Duran as they will get rinsed for pace. Likewise we need to exploit the spaces and get our 3 in behind as much as possible.

I suspect they will look to get max value for Almiron, Trippier and possibly Longstaff and anyone else that has decent wages and are surplus like Targett in this window. If that happens and we free up some wages, I can see possibly one player coming in if someone they want is available.